Bartica Regional Hospital undergoes partial upgrade in three years -- Additional funds needed for complete modernisation

Bartica Regional Hospital undergoes partial upgrade in three years — Additional funds needed for complete modernisation

Nov 05, 2019 News

Bartica Regional Hospital has undergone a partial upgrade in the last three years. Regional Health Officer (RHO) for Region Seven, Dr. Edward Sagala told Kaieteur News that the process of modernising Region Seven’s premier health care facility has been slow and continuous.

Departments such as the hospital’s record keeping section currently need upgrading.

RHO Dr. Edward Sagala points to critical equipment which is now part of the hospital’s ICU unit.

According to the RHO, the hospital, which provides services to thousands in Region Seven and its surrounding environs, has seen critical upgrade in terms of machinery and staff for the various medical departments.
Dr. Sagala said that within the past three years, the adult intensive care unit, the neonatal intensive care unit, operating theatre and the maternity and child care unit of the Bartica Hospital have seen upgrades.
Additionally, he noted that the hospital is now staffed with eight medical specialists including a General Surgeon, gynaecologist, obstetrician, pediatrician, anesthesiologist and dermatologist along with one radiographer and eleven general medical officers.
Dr. Sagala said that the upgrade is vital, given that thousands of residents of Bartica and nearby communities, and even persons coming out of interior locations, access medical services at the hospital.
“We have in the short space of three years, seen upgrades. The hospital is staffed with over seventeen doctors, including a cardiologist and one radiographer. We have an operating theatre where we conduct all types of surgeries here.
We have a two-bed intensive care unit in which we have been able to save the lives of at least ten persons. We are now renovating the accident and emergency unit to cater for more persons. We have a new CT scanner, but we are waiting on an engineer to come to finalise the procedure for it to be up and running.”
Additionally, Dr. Sagala noted the hospital has a robust malaria unit which caters and treats patients from areas as far as Saxacalli, Itaballi, Imbaimadai, Jawalla, Kako, Kamarang, and Eteringbang in the Cuyuni.
The RHO noted, however, there is a lot more work to be done to achieve modernisation, but it requires funding.
“We are hoping to further upgrade the operating theatre in 2020. We need a new mortuary, because so far we can only store four bodies at a time, which is not sufficient for such a big region. There is need for more renovation, especially in the area of record keeping, which remains a challenge for us. Our records need a better system; hopefully we can get it computerised by next year.
The Regional Health Services of the Ministry of Public Health has recognised the Bartica Hospital as a regional facility, since most of the requisite and specialist services including surgeries are conducted there.
Some US$3M was expected to be spent on the modernisation of the Bartica Regional Hospital – the expansion of the existing building, along with the construction of a number of new structures in the compound.
Regional Chairman of Region Seven Gordon Bradford had explained that, “with the project on-stream the RDC will now focus on creating community hospitals throughout the Region.” He said that the region is also working on enhancing the Kamarang District Hospital to reduce the number of referrals to the GPHC.
The expansion will see an additional operating theatre, expansion of the accident and emergency unit and the training of our healthcare providers in the region. “It’s a big project and we hope that within the next three years it should be up and running,” Bradford explained.
The Regional Chairman also pointed to other developments within the region’s health sector.

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